Liberté Égalité Fraternité

UNION PATRIOTIQUE HAÏTIENNE U. P. H.

President Jimmy Carter Washington, October 9, 1979 The White House Washington, D.C.

Mr. President,

The Union Patriotique Haïtienne (U.P.H.), on behalf of the Haitian opposition and its own, is appealing to Your High Office to terminate by the proper action the support and encouragement the U.S.. Government is bringing to the dictatorial de facto government of Haiti.

It is the sense of the 96th Congress to retain Mas report language” of the Committee of Conference the spirit of the Chiles/Javits amendment passed on the Senate floor June 19, 1979 which specified that aid ’’may be made available to Haiti if the President determines that the Government of Haiti has shown good faith in implementing adequate fiscal reform and human rights measures. ’’Indeed, Haiti today is known as La Terre Classique of oppression and corruption,

The Haitian opposition in exile has continuously raised its voice against oppression and corruption in Haiti. The internal opposition has paid dearly in its flesh and in its blood for every attempt made to express its dissent and dissatisfaction. Today more than ever, the scenario goes on. The conditions prevailing now in Haiti are similar to those which existed just before the explosion of violence recently in countries like Iran, Uganda, Nicaragua, Central African Republic and El Salvador.

As of now, Haiti has endured 22 years of a dic­ tatorial and depressing regime imposed on the people by General Kebreau. The head of the Haitian Army was acting under instruc­ tion of the US Government to rigg the elections of September 1957 and to impose and install as president Francois (Pape Doc) Duvalier, formerly a country doctor employed in the services of the then Point IV. After Duvalier’s death in 1971, US Ambas­ sador Clinton B. Knox instituted a de facto regime with a teen age boy as president-for “Life, Jean-Claude Duvalier, more properly surnamed ’’Baby Doc”.

3900 YUMA STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20016 - Presently at this point in time, a new wave of repressive repressive measures and acts covers the country of terror. Des­ truction of the Press, written and spoken, is the target of the government. The determination of the internal opposition to stand up for its rights of free speech has met with many deceptions like the silencing of the press and radio, menaces, beatings, disappearances, gunshots, censure and so on. The civilian population has suffered its toil also: arrests, kil­ lings point-blank of innocent people (Reynald Taylor,M.E, 25 years old), and so on.

The violations of human rights in Haiti are evidenced in lengthy details by the State Department in its two reports for the years 1977 and 1978 on Human Rights Practices in Countries receiving US aid.

The legislative elections of Feb. 11, 1979 were again rigged and fraudulent. They were not "free and fair”. They were simply a mockery. The Haitian government has failed what the State Department report has considered to be the "critical test., of its proclaimed policy of liberalization.” The same report contented that "since the late 1950’s, all members of the (unicameral) chamber have belonged to the Duvalier movement.”

If we consider that only one opposition candidate dared compete in one electoral district and was elected in the legislative elections of Feb. 11, 1979, we can affirm that the status of the civil and political rights under the totalitarian de facto regime of Haiti is a thousand times worse than that prevailing in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (Muzarewa), in S. korea or; until re­ cently in Somoza-Nicaragua. You personally, Mr. President, have in various occasions criticized the human rights conditions in those countries. A censure law hastily voted in mid-september 1979 has put a gag on all opposition radios and papers. The speakers or editors have been admonished at the Police Bureau (Jean Dominique, Dieudonne Fardin). Seme have been beaten, fired upon- arrested or have disappeared (Sylvio Claude) or are in hiding. The same treatment has been bestowed upon the members of the newly formed po­ litical parties and the Haitian League of Human rights.

Mr. Viron P, Vaky, Assistant Secretary of State for Interamerican Affairs, was right in every way when he said in his statement before the Subcommittee on Interamerican Affairs, Feb. 13, 1979 that Haiti is not "a functioning democracy".

Alerted by the numerous violations of Human rights in Haiti, the Interamerican Commission, on Human Rights (ICHR) vi­ sited the country in August 1978, It is to be deplored that, despite the reinforced position of the Commission by the recent ratification of the American Convention on Hunan Rights, the report already long drafted has not been published yet 14 months after the inquiry in loco took place* Such delay may have weakened the purpose for which the report was intented, while its pu­ blication, after a reasonable lapse of time, like for that one on Nicaragua, could have helped in the understanding of the various aspects of Human Rights violations in Haiti, guided toward appropriate and thoughtful dispositions for a peaceful solution and, therefore, prevented the deterioration in the situation of the kind which we have witnessed lately and which is ■. bringing the country closer to violence and revolution*

As you may know, Mr. President, the means of support of the repressive and ferocious de facto regime of Haiti is corruption. The World Bank Report #1243-HA of September 25, 1976 h^s revealed that $45.5 million of fiscal revenues for FY/75 were not budgeted and cannot be accounted for.

According to Foreign Economic Trends #77-148 of Nov ember 1977, prepared by the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince, the "unbudgeted receipts amounted to $60-million in FY/1977 and (were) projected at $69 million in FY/1978.”

On top of all the above, the USAID granted a bonanza of $18 million of Food For Peace to the Haitian government for sale. The proceeds supposedly were to be invested in local projects. Those proceeds also, it seems, -plus any eventual black market mark-ups- could not be accounted for. It is clearly understood that the needy or the poor cannot afford to buy that high qua­ lity and expensive food. That operation was therefore more of a commercial than humanitarian nature.

Talking about "the existence of off-budget accounts" of the type referred to above, Congressman William Lehman (D. Fla) who visited Haiti April 16 to 19, 1979 said that "it is gen­ erally assumed that much of it goes to personal enrichment." It is'well known indeed that the private fortune of the Duvalier family deposited in foreign banks accounts is close to $300 mil­ lion and includes, besides, a castle in Monaco ($3 million) and so on.

After a long period of interruption, Foreign Aid was reinstated to Haiti under pressure applied by Representative Daniel Flood over the State Department. The so-called Flood/ Rigaud scandal or the "Floodgate" - not an engineering part- was revealed by Wendell Rawls in the N. Y. Times editions of Feb. 5th and May 14th 1978. Serious allegations of misconduct have been made; improprieties in the management of AID funds are hinted at. "The Organized Crime Strike Force of the Justice Dept., said Rawls, is known to be investigating Flood’s activities (con­ cerning Haiti) and has been gathering information from Elko" who acted as representative or intermediary of Flood with Duvalier through Rigaud. In late August 1978, Rigaud was questioned du­ ring three days by the Justice Department in Washington. Around late October, The Justice Department in a background briefing to the Press declared that ’’Enough is enough; no more charges vtfill be brought against Flood; the investiga tion is terminated. "Mr. Stephenson of the Justice Department later said that since charges have not been brought against Flood in the Flood/Rigaud affairs, nothing will be. revealed about the questioning of Rigaud by the Justice Dept.. Nonetheless, since the improprieties and the mismanagement of foreign assis­ tance funds involve allegations of bribe of or by a foreign go­ vernment, it would seem proper for the State and the Justice departments to inform the public and tell the truth about the scandal•

Surprising revelations are surfacing in the post-mortem of the Shah’s and Somoza overthrow. Convictions in cases of briberies, conspiracies between US company and elected officials and foreign governments like Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea have already been pronounced. Doubts therefore, should be dissipated right now in the Flood/Rigaud/Duvalier scandal.

As a consequence of the 22 years in power of a dictato­ rial, incompetent and corrupt government in Haiti, there has been a deterioration in the economic, social and political si­ tuation which has driven the country to bankruptcy.

The balance of trade has been increasingly deficitary for all the 1970 decade. The balance of payments heavily in- the red in the first part of the 70’s is rendered favorable only by temporary and precarious means or external and artificial trans­ fers of hard currency, like a transfusion, completely unrelated to the evolution of the economy.

A marked decrease has been registered in the deliveries by the farmers of the principal commodities due to unfair control of their marketing by the government. The agricultural develop­ ment is quasi-stagnant forcing the country to "esort to importing food products that could be produced locally.

Private capitals sent abroad exceed $40 million a year. The repayment of foreign .loans, State and private, will at times add to those figures and affect the Balance of Payments.

Hunger, diseases, illeteracy fear and despair plague the people while according to Rep. William Lehman (D. Fla.) re­ porting on his trip to Haiti, "Government officials and the more affluent Haitians do not seem all that concerned about the hard­ ships of their own people. "Rep. Lehman further "observed a cer­ tain amount of ’malign neglect on the part of this group, and aID officials complained of the government lack of commitment.”

The evident failure of the Foreign Assistance to accom­ plish its development objectives coupled over the years with the inefficiency of the Haitian government has generated the concept of a "Joint Commission" which is neither more nor less than an "International Trusteeship", a form of a shadow government which is substituting itself to the Haitian Government and encroaching upon the constitutional prerogatives of the puppet President.

The International Organizations, International Finan­ cing Institutions and countries donors forming the Joint Commis­ sion so perpetuate an illegal government, paralyze the democra­ tic process and violate the civil and political rights of the citizens of a whole nation. The Organization of American States (OAS), by acting as Chairman of the so-called Joint Commission, is violating therefore its own Charter as well as the American Convention of Human Rights which ironically it is supposed to safeguard and enforce.

The oppressive regime has forced more than 500,000 people out of the country including about 10,000 professionals, technicians, administrators and trained personnel. The depleted cadres and the bled finances of the country as well as the in­ competence and neglect of the government officials have debili­ tated the country to the point where no development programs can be undertaken and all development assistance is rendered inope­ rative on the own confession of the government and AID officials.

To achieve success in the noble pursuit of the restora­ tion of human rights in Haiti and decency in the gestion of the fiscal revenues and administration of the budget, the opposition alone cannot succeed without recurring to violence. For a peace­ ful revolution, the Haitian opposition must count on a correct attitude on the part of the US in support of human rights and a revision of its foreign policy from a systematic support of a dictator to the discontinuance of the moral support and finan­ cial, economic and military assistance it is offering to the anachronic regime of Duvalier.

The stupid notion of the Presidency For Life must be abolished. Freedom of speech and Press must be proclaimed. The Judiciary apparatus must undergo a complete reform. The rigged and fraudulent elections of February 11, 1979 must be repealed. New democratic elections under a proper governmental body must be decreed with the participation of all exiles and political groups and parties. A complete fiscal reform must be undertaken and not a timid or partial one as offered by the government. The Regie du Tabac must be liquidated. All accounts of the budget must be subject to audit. Moreover all the embezzled funds have to be reimbursed to the Treasury. All the death squads (T.T.M., V.S.N) must be dismantled.

Shocking indeed is the contrast between the democratic concept of the US Government and the dictatorial rule of the coun­ tries it supports, like mainly Haiti. That anomaly has contribu­ ted to a certain extent to that crisis of confidence You said, Mr. President, the country is experiencing. It is really disturbing to notice also that democratic countries like the West German 'Federal Republic, France, Canada and Israel are fully supporting the ferocious dictator of the de facto regime of Haiti.

We, of the U.P.H., have always advocated a peaceful solution to the archaic totalitarian regime of Haiti. We were encouraged to hear the voice of Viron P. Vaky before the Sub- committee of Interamerican Affairs, Sept. 11, 1979, proclai­ ming: ”We would hope to see those vulnerabilities reduced by a peaceful change consistent with indidual liberties and demo­ cratic values and more open, pluralistic and equitable societies... Failure on (the) part of (US) to identify with the legitimate aspiration of people in those countries and with those democratic elements who seek peaceful constructive change, respect for human rights and basic equity will put (the US) on the wrong side of history.”

The alternative to peaceful change is ac­ cording to Viron P. Vaky ’’insurgency anu communism”. John F. Kennedy long ago enunciated the principle that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution ine­ vitable.” On July 4, 1776, the forefathers defending their "unalienable rights... Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" warned that: "When a long trend of abuses and usurpation, pur­ suing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future-security.”

It is disheartening to know that the US Foreign Assis­ tance- and that of the auxiliary donors- in its present form and under the present circumstances,, is unfortunately not only a support to OPPRESSION and a subsidy to CORRUPTION, but also a catalyst to violence and communism.

With the benefit of experience, Mr. President, shall we meet the challenge of the peaceful change for the respect of Human Rights in Haiti?

respectfully yours,

Paul Ls. Cassagnol Andre Cherilus Vilius Gervais President Vice-President Secretary

Andre Gordon Conseiller